AN AFRICAN TRAGEDY - THE FIRST NOVEL IN ENGLISH BY A ZULU WRITER (1928)

                                                          THE FIRST NOVEL IN ENGLISH BY A ZULU WRITER.

                                                        An African Tragedy, a novel in English by a Zulu Writer.

Lovedale Press, Cape Province, South Africa, no date but  circa. 1928, card boards, 48 pages, 12.7 cms x 19.3 cms, marks to covers, some underlining (in pencil), previous owner's name to blank endpaper,  otherwise condition: very good..

An African Tragedy, a novel about the corrosive effects of the city on a pair of lovers from the country, is a Christian fable of sin and forgiveness. Dhlomos major novels in ZuluUNomalanga kaNdengezi (1934; Nomalanga, Daughter of Ndengezi) and Indlela yababi (1946; The Way of the Wicked)paint portraits of Zulu life in Natal and Johannesburg, respectively. Many of his other Zulu works are semibiographical accounts about members of the Zulu dynasty.

Dhlomo attended the Ohlange Institute in his hometown and then earned a teachers certificate from Adams College at nearby Amanzimtoti. He contributed sketches and moral tales to The Sjambok, Ilanga lase Natal, and The Bantu World before becoming editor of The Bantu World (194243) and Ilanga lase Natal (194360), for which he wrote a leading feature in English and numerous articles in Zulu.

R. R. R. (Rolfus Reginald Raymond) Dhlomo (1901 1971), born at Siyamu, Natal [KZN] was a novelist, journalist, and editor who wrote in Zulu and English.

The Lovedale Missionary Institute, just north of Alice in the Eastern Cape, founded in 1823, opened the Lovedale Press, specialising in  educational and evangelical isiXhosa texts and literature, as well as the newspaper Ikwezi and journals like Bantu Studies. The press printed and published literary works by black writers, authors and musicians, creating a library of absolutely vital function.

                                                                              The Lovedale Press published the first Xhosa Bible.